Category: 5-Stars

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Book Review: Two Truths and a Lie by Meg Mitchell Moore 

 

Two Truths and a Lie
by Meg Mitchell Moore 

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU /

B&N / GP/ Apple / Kobo

 

From the author of The Islanders comes a warm, witty and suspenseful novel filled with small-town secrets, summer romance, big time lies, and spiked seltzer, in the vein of Liane Moriarty.

Truth: Sherri Griffin and her daughter, Katie, have recently moved to the idyllic beach town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rebecca Coleman, widely acknowledged former leader of the Newburyport Mom Squad (having taken a step back since her husband’s shocking and tragic death eighteen months ago), has made a surprising effort to include these newcomers in typically closed-group activities. Rebecca’s teenage daughter Alexa has even been spotted babysitting Katie.

Truth: Alexa has time on her hands because of a recent falling-out with her longtime best friends for reasons no one knows—but everyone suspects have to do with Alexa’s highly popular and increasingly successful YouTube channel. Katie Griffin, who at age 11 probably doesn’t need a babysitter anymore, can’t be left alone because she has terrifying nightmares that don’t seem to jibe with the vague story Sherri has floated about the “bad divorce” she left behind in Ohio. Rebecca Coleman has been spending a lot of time with Sherri, it’s true, but she’s also been spending time with someone else she doesn’t want the Mom Squad to know about just yet.

Lie: Rebecca Coleman doesn’t have a new man in her life, and definitely not someone connected to the Mom Squad. Alexa is not seeing anyone new herself and is planning on shutting down her YouTube channel in advance of attending college in the fall. Sherri Griffin’s real name is Sherri Griffin, and a bad divorce is all she’s running from.

A blend of propulsive thriller and gorgeous summer read, Two Truths and a Lie reminds us that happiness isn’t always a day at the beach, some secrets aren’t meant to be shared, and the most precious things are the people we love.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The woman was Sherri “with an i” (that was how she introduced herself, as though the i were of particular value, a bonus).

 

It was summer, obviously. But in a funny way it felt like it was Christmas morning and Cameron Hartwell was a present Alexa hadn’t yet unwrapped.

 

Outside the door stood a shriveled specimen of a woman. She was holding a small dog with giant ears. The woman made Alexa think of what would happen if somebody took a walnut and glued it on top of an old rag doll. She was looking at Alexa sternly.

 

The zinc she had applied to her face was uneven, making her look like a clown who’d partied too hard after last night’s circus.

My Review:

 

I am enamored with Meg Mitchell Moore’s smooth writing style and well-crafted story. I fell right into this seamlessly plotted, shrewdly paced, and absorbing tale of women’s fiction. Her storylines were well textured and expertly nuanced with generous servings of family drama, personal grief, coming of age issues, wry humor, romance, small-town living, and suspense. While selfishly resenting any interruption to my perusal I may have accidentally on purpose let all calls go to voicemail.

The complex characters were multi-layered, cunningly drawn, cleverly depicted, and realistically flawed. Each had a distinct voice and arresting aspects to their inner musings, painful insights, and observations. The most amusing threads involved the devilish petty members of the Mom Squad, which was a tight-knit clique of the ostensibly in-group of uber moms found in every small-town, who guarded and groomed their daughters’ social standing with as much self-aggrandizing importance as they did their own, and did so with judgmental eyes and sharply wagging tongues.

This was my first exposure to the agility of Ms. Moore’s pen and brain-tickling storytelling. I consider her found treasure and covet her entire listing while planning to follow her future endeavors like a bloodhound on the trail of an escaped convict.

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Meg Mitchell Moore’s fifth novel, The Islanders, will be published by William Morrow in June 2019 and is a July Indie Next Pick. She lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with her husband and their three teenaged and almost-teenaged daughters.

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Book Review: Show Time (Juniper Ridge Romantic Comedies #1) by Tawna Fenske

 

Show Time
(Juniper Ridge Romantic Comedies #1)
by Tawna Fenske

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU /
B&N / GP/ Apple / Kobo

 

It’s a wacky concept. Take an abandoned cult compound and cast the cops, teachers, farmers, and nurses needed for a self-contained community. Throw in some cameras and presto! Instant TV hit.

​​​​​​​There’s only one family with the chops to make it work, so the Judsons pack up their LA lives for a fresh start in rural Oregon. Big brother Dean has brokered billions in Hollywood deals. Surely he can produce a tiny town from scratch? He just needs a finance guru to help him prep for showtime while Dean does his best to forget having his heart smashed to withered bits.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I only caught the end of that, but if we’re suggesting Dean spends his days in here buffing the banana, we should rethink letting him have the big office.

 

“It was pretty great.” Pretty great? Chocolate lava cake is pretty great. A trip to Greece is pretty great. Eating chocolate lava cake on the balcony of a Greek villa with Oprah Winfrey and Meryl Streep would be pretty great, and none of it compares with what just happened between Dean and me.

 

You know what my mom used to call me? A free spirit. No, it wasn’t a good thing. I know it might be for some people, but trust me. The way she said it was like “satan” or “calories” or “polyester.” I guess to her, that was the worst thing I could be.

My Review:

 

Oh, happy day! One of my favorite funny ladies has started a new smirk-worthy series of rom/coms.  I adore and covet the amusing and mischievous wit, comfortable style, and comedic articulacy of Tawna Fenske. Reading her stories is like indulging in a supersized wedge of my favorite flavor of cheesecake after dieting. Her tales are painlessly easy to fall into with the ideal amount of tension, delicious steam, low angst, and amusing insights and observations. I also find I am quickly enamored and rooting for her quirky characters.   Vanessa and Dean were perfectly cast, a lovely pair, and well-matched for each other – both in and out of the office. I have noted down the devilishly clever pet names of Puma Thurman and Catrick Swayze to steal for future usage and am keen to get my abysmally manicured hands on the next installment of this playfully entertaining series.

 

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About the Author    

Website 

Amazon

Goodreads

 

When Tawna Fenske finished her English lit degree at 22, she celebrated by filling a giant trash bag full of romance novels and dragging it everywhere until she’d read them all. Now she’s a RITA-nominated, USA Today bestselling author who writes humorous fiction, risqué romance, and heartwarming love stories with a quirky twist. Publishers Weekly has praised Tawna’s offbeat romances with multiple starred reviews and noted, “There’s something wonderfully relaxing about being immersed in a story filled with over-the-top characters in undeniably relatable situations. Heartache and humor go hand in hand.”

Tawna lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, stepkids, and a menagerie of ill-behaved pets. She loves hiking, snowshoeing, standup paddleboarding, and inventing excuses to sip wine on her back porch. She can peel a banana with her toes and loses an average of twenty pairs of eyeglasses per year. To find out more about Tawna and her books, visit www.tawnafenske.com.

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Book Review: I KNOW YOU LIED by Lesley Sanderson

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I KNOW YOU LIED
by Lesley Sanderson

The news of her mother’s death hits Nell as if she’s been shot. The letter must be some kind of prank, but who could be so cruel? Because Nell’s mother died nearly thirty years ago.

When Nell was just a tiny baby, her parents died in a car crash, leaving her to be raised by her devoted grandmother, Lilian. So when the lawyer’s letter arrives, informing her of her mother Sarah’s very recent death, it destroys everything Nell thought she knew. Her grandmother loved her, so why did she lie? And why did her mother abandon her?

Nell knows she can never recapture the years with her mother that were taken from her, and fears this will haunt her forever. Now she won’t rest until she finds out why she was so cruelly deceived. But her family’s past has been kept secret for a reason, and someone is desperate for it to stay that way. How much danger will Nell risk for the truth?

If you loved The Silent Patient, The Secret Mother, and The Wife Between Us, then this addictive thriller about dark family secrets and obsession will have you on the edge of your seat.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

Lilian always pronounces her name as if it’s something distasteful she’s extracting from a plughole.

 

My Review:

 

I was riveted, chilled, and itching with curiosity about this maddeningly paced, tautly written, and brilliantly plotted tale. I tumbled right into the writing and even though I knew the villain was vile from the get-go, I just didn’t realize how truly evil she was. Lesley Sanderson is one twisted sister and turned out a shrewd and cunningly penned story that held me captive and tethered to my Kindle while impatient with any fool who dared to distract me from solving this tragic mystery and peeling back all the secrets. I was deeply invested and admittedly, near rabid in my need to know.   There was sleight of hand, decades of lies, misdirections, and well-buried clues. It was divine.

About the Author

Lesley attended the Curtis Brown Creative 6 month novel writing course in 2015/6, and in 2017 The Orchid Girls (then On The Edge) was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish fiction prize.

Lesley is the author of psychological thrillers and spends her days writing in coffee shops in Kings Cross where she lives and works as a librarian. She loves the atmosphere and eclectic mix of people in the area. Lesley discovered Patricia Highsmith as a teenager and has been hooked on psychological thrillers ever since.

 

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Book Review: Can I Give My Husband Back? by Kristen Bailey

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Can I Give My Husband Back?
by Kristen Bailey

Amazon /B&N/ Kobo/ Apple/ GP 

 It’s normal to prefer getting a filling at the dentist’s to spending time with your husband, right?

I thought I was sorted on the life front. I was a heart surgeon with a loving partner and two gorgeous little girls. Except my husband’s version of ‘loving’ is lying, cheating, and sleeping his way around London. Which means I definitely deserve a refund.

Unfortunately, moving on isn’t that simple. Just because I know how to operate on a heart doesn’t mean I know how to fix my broken one. Plus, I lost the receipt for him years ago so I’m definitely getting short-changed.

But now I’m single, am I ready to mingle? There are a few minor issues:

1) The last time I went on a date double denim was in fashion and my eyebrows were horrendously overplucked.
2) Men wear stupidly skinny jeans now.
3) I don’t know how to use dating apps but at least I don’t have to get changed out of my pyjamas.
4) Sometimes the most promising thing you have in common with a guy is a shared love of prawns.
5) I don’t know whether to open a date with ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ or ‘hey’ and once I ended up saying ‘howdy’.

Everything happens for a reason, they say. There’s plenty more fish in the sea. But what happens when everything falls apart and you haven’t got a clue how to go fishing?

An absolutely hilarious and utterly relatable tale for anyone who has ever survived a nightmare relationship, felt a little lonely or nursed a broken heart with wine and carbs. This feel-good novel will get you back on your feet and genuinely laughing out loud. Perfect for fans of Why Mummy Drinks, Sophie Ranald, and Sophie Kinsella.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“I could be kidnapped and killed for my body parts. Look after my girls. Make sure Si doesn’t ruin them.” “Two things: Don’t mention that man’s name to me. And you’re too old to be kidnapped. Your organs would be a hard sell.”

 

She looks like the eighties ate her up and spat her back out again. That’s some slick hair and a strong shoulder. She stands on my doorstep expecting to be invited in; I’m pretty sure that’s what you traditionally have to do with vampires.

 

‘I also don’t eat blueberries, for future information,’ I carry on. ‘But blueberries are delicious?’ ‘My sister once told me they are Smurf testicles so I can’t bring myself to eat them now.’

 

He normally wears glasses but Meera didn’t want them in her photos so forced him to wear contact lenses for the first time. So the poor boy’s eyes are bulging like his pants are too tight.

 

… she told the thirty-odd people present that she was glad she didn’t marry me because I’m very hairy and she didn’t want my furball babies.

My Review:

 

This was a wicked funny tale laced with all varieties of humor from acerbic snark to highly comical events and everything in between. I haven’t had this much fun giggle-snorting into my Moscato in ages. While there were also parts of the storylines that were quite tragic as the loathsome husband was an unrepentant serial adulterer, the writing sparked with clever wit and wry humor. I was frequently smirking and a few times nearly apoplectic with laughter.

 

Being more prone toward the Lorena Bobbitt methodology for dealing with such issues, I was occasionally impatient and annoyed with the main character’s spineless inability to face her husband’s blatant and repeated infidelities as well as her overly forgiving nature once she finally did so, I still appreciated her journey and reveled in the manner her sisters and friends were shoring her up which enabled her to retrieve her own identity and sense of worth. Every single character was riotously amusing with my favorite being the fierce and mischievously salacious younger sister Lucy, whom I hope to see featured in her very own book soon with more Frozen Fiesta Fracas adventures.

 

About the Author

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Mother-of-four, gin-drinker, binge-watcher, receipt hoarder, enthusiastic but terrible cook. Kristen also writes. She has had short fiction published in several publications including Mslexia & Riptide. Her first two novels, Souper Mum and Second Helpings were published in 2016. In 2019, she was long-listed in the Comedy Women in Print Prize and has since joined the Bookouture family. She hopes her novels have fresh and funny things to say about modern life, love, and family.

You can find out more about her on Twitter (@mrsbaileywrites), Instagram (@kristenbaileywrites), and Facebook.

 

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Book Review: The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson

The Sea Gate
by Jane Johnson

One house, two women, a lifetime of secrets…

Following the death of her mother, Becky begins the sad task of sorting through her empty flat. Starting with the letters piling up on the doormat, she finds an envelope post-marked from Cornwall. In it is a letter that will change her life forever. A desperate plea from her mother’s elderly cousin, Olivia, to help save her beloved home.

Becky arrives at Chynalls to find the beautiful old house crumbling into the ground, and Olivia stuck in hospital with no hope of being discharged until her home is made habitable.

Though daunted by the enormity of the task, Becky sets to work. But as she peels back the layers of paint, plaster, and grime, she uncovers secrets buried for more than seventy years. Secrets from a time when Olivia was young, the Second World War was raging, and danger and romance lurked around every corner…

The Sea Gate is a sweeping, spellbinding novel about the lives of two very different women, and the secrets that bind them together.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Estelle swore in vehement French, which Olivia mentally noted down for future use.

 

She still did not believe there had ever been a Mr. Ogden. And if there had been he was probably, judging by his offspring, a hobgoblin.

 

The long mirror on the inside of the wardrobe door throws my image at me. There is little worse in life than being caught unawares by your reflection, before you’ve made the small adjustments all women make – I have avoided mirrors for so long that I have forgotten to look out for them – and there I am, thin and white and strangely shaped…

 

Olivia hated Sundays. Who on earth thought it was a good idea to have a day of rest and then make you get up early to go to church?

 

I feel nothing. Not regret, or hatred or even repulsion. Nothing at all. All my emotions appear to have burst out of me in that one punch. I imagine them flowing down my arm like Popeye’s spinach, pumping up the muscles, exiting in a cartoon-bubble POW!

 

 

My Review:

 

I adored this brilliantly crafted tale! The storylines were highly engaging, emotively written, colorfully and effusively detailed, insightfully observant, staggeringly eventful, and cleverly paced while hitting all the feels with a powerful punch and taunting my curiosity with a constant itch. The cast of characters was vastly diverse and well-drawn with despicable villains and endearingly flawed protagonists, but my favorite was the highly astute and humorously profane parrot. This was an epic tale that intrigued, squeezed my heart, amused me, and kept me well entertained and actively engaged while reading. This sly missive was my introduction to the wily Jane Johnson and has me greedy for more.

About the Author

Facebook

Twitter

Jane Johnson is a British novelist and publisher. She is the UK editor for George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, and Dean Koontz and was for many years publisher of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Married to a Berber chef she met while researching The Tenth Gift, she lives in Cornwall and Morocco.

Follow Head of Zeus:

Website: www.headofzeus.com

Twitter: @HoZ_Books

Facebook: @headofzeus

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Book Review: Stranger in the Lake by Kimberly Belle

 

 

Stranger in the Lake
by Kimberly Belle

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When Charlotte married the wealthy widower Paul, it caused a ripple of gossip in their small lakeside town. They have a charmed life together, despite the cruel whispers about her humble past and his first marriage. But everything starts to unravel when she discovers a young woman’s body floating in the exact same spot where Paul’s first wife tragically drowned.

At first, it seems like a horrific coincidence, but the stranger in the lake is no stranger. Charlotte saw Paul talking to her the day before, even though Paul tells the police he’s never met the woman. His lie exposes cracks in their fragile new marriage, cracks Charlotte is determined to keep from breaking them in two.

As Charlotte uncovers dark mysteries about the man she married, she doesn’t know what to trust—her heart, which knows Paul to be a good man, or her growing suspicion that there’s something he’s hiding in the water.

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

People say I married Paul for the money, but that’s just not true. I married him because I love him, and I love him for all the things he provides. A mortgage-free roof over my head and a belly stuffed with nutritious, organic food… And really, when you think about it, isn’t security just another word for love?

Annalee loves drama, and she loves when others share in hers.

Even if she had Paul when she was a teenager, even if she slept hanging upside down by her ankles every night, there’s no way someone her age— I’ve done the math, and the woman is well into her fifties— looks that good, not without a little help. But either her surgeon is really, really good, or somewhere along the line, Diana Keller made a deal with the devil.

As far as I’m concerned, this part of my life is like Vegas: what happened here stays here, hanging from velvet hangers upstairs in the closet.

 

Money can’t buy happiness or bravery. It can’t save a marriage or bring a drug dealer back from the dead. But in these United States of America, especially here in the South, it can keep a white man out of prison.

My Review:

 

This cleverly penned mystery kept my attention rapt and my curiosity sharply honed. This was my first experience with the wily Kimberly Belle and it greedily whetted my appetite for more. Her writing was easy to follow, expertly paced, colorfully descriptive, wittily amusing, and engagingly phrased. I was quickly lured into Ms. Belle’s intriguing yet somewhat smoky vortex where I couldn’t quite grasp who was trustworthy as this was such a slippery bunch. The ones I thought wouldn’t be actually were, and the ones I had higher aspirations for were rather tepid after all. I had hoped for a different ending as I always crave a romantic HEA, but I can accept the one written just as well.

About the Author

Kimberly Belle is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of six novels, including the forthcoming Stranger in the Lake (June 2020). Her third novel, The Marriage Lie, was a semifinalist in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Mystery & Thriller, and a #1 e-book bestseller in the UK and Italy. She’s sold rights to her books in a dozen languages as well as film and television options. A graduate of Agnes Scott College, Belle divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

Social Links:

Author website: https://www.kimberlybellebooks.com/

Facebook: @KimberlyBelleBooks

Twitter: @KimberlySBelle

Instagram: @kimberlysbelle

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/kimberlybelle

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Book Review: The Book Doctor by Britney King

 

The Book Doctor
by Britney King

Genre: Psychological Thriller
Release Date: June 11, 2020

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From the bestselling author of The Social Affair and HER comes a riveting new thriller about a writer desperate to make a comeback who realizes that success may cost more than he can afford to pay when a stranger arrives at his door.
 
George is bitter. As he should be. Once a household name, George is dying to make a comeback, and death may be the only option left to get the public’s attention. Ask anyone, his life is unraveling at the seams. Meanwhile, his new apprentice is everything he is not. 
 
The enigmatic man his publisher sends to help is young and ambitious, with looks that could kill, and possibly do.
 
When George discovers that his apprentice’s talent extends beyond fixing broken plots, that his winning formula may, in fact, be a result of making the crimes in his novels come to life, George has to ask himself how much he is willing to overlook to achieve mainstream success. 
 
Perfectly paced, The Book Doctor is an electrifying psychological thriller about a life’s work, obsession, and the dangerous places ambition can take you. Full of enough tension and twists to make even the most seasoned suspense reader break out in a cold sweat, it keeps you guessing until the very last page.
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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Not that I’d call myself an alcoholic. But that doesn’t stop other people from doing it. From my agent, to my editor, to the garbage man, everyone has their opinions.

Bad decisions are written in permanent ink. Life cannot be reversed.

I realize I am seconds away from passing out. It’s funny how it isn’t until words are taken from you that you realize how many you have left to say.

No one is coming to save me. It’s only wishful thinking. Hope will suffocate you if you let it.

Trying to make a crazy person understand they’re crazy is a losing game. Believe me, I know.

My Review:

 

I do loves me some Britney King. She has her own uniquely clever, highly observant, and inherently crafty style and churns out riveting psychological thrillers that I seem to have developed quite a thirst for. But, man oh man! Based on the inner musings of her killers, she must be one twisted sister! I adore her smart snark, brilliant sociopaths, and wily sense of humor.   The pacing and plotting of her tales are pure genius. Her name will undoubtedly remain on my list of favorites into perpetuity… that is unless she starts writing about zombies, as I despise zombies with the heat of a thousand suns.

 

Britney King lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, children, two dogs, one ridiculous cat, and a partridge in a pear tree.
When she’s not wrangling the things mentioned above, she writes psychological, domestic and romantic thrillers set in suburbia.
 
Currently, she’s writing three series and several standalone novels.
 
The Bedrock Series features an unlikely heroine who should have known better. Turns out, she didn’t. Thus she finds herself tangled in a messy, dangerous, forbidden love story and face-to-face with a madman hell-bent on revenge. The series has been compared to Fatal Attraction, Single White Female, and Basic Instinct.
 
The Water Series follows the shady love story of an unconventional married couple—he’s an assassin—she kills for fun. It has been compared to a crazier book version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Also, Dexter.
 
Around The Bend is a heart-pounding standalone, which traces the journey of a well-to-do suburban housewife, and her life as it unravels, thanks to the secrets she keeps. If she were the only one with things she wanted to keep hidden, then maybe it wouldn’t have turned out so bad. But she wasn’t.
The With You Series at its core is a deep love story about unlikely friends who travel the world; trying to find themselves, together and apart. Packed with drama and adventure along with a heavy dose of suspense, it has been compared to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Love, Rosie.
The Social Affair is an intense standalone about a timeless couple who find themselves with a secret admirer they hadn’t bargained for. For fans of the anti-heroine and stories told in unorthodox ways, the novel explores what can happen when privacy is traded for convenience. It is reminiscent of films such as One Hour Photo and Play Misty For Me. 
 
Without a doubt, connecting with readers is the best part of this gig. You can find Britney online here: 
Web• http://BritneyKing.com
Instagram • https://instagram.com/britneyking_ 
Facebook • https://www.facebook.com/BritneyKingAuthor
Twitter• http://twitter.com/BritneyKing_
Goodreads • http://bit.ly/BritneyKingGoodreads
 
To get more– grab two books for free, by subscribing to her mailing list at britneyking.com or just copy and paste bit.ly/britneykingweb into your browser. 
Happy reading.

 

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Book Review: Summer in the City by Emma Jackson

 

 

Summer in the City
by Emma Jackson

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU / B&N

The heartwarming new holiday read from the bestselling author of A Mistletoe Miracle


Sometimes the one thing you’re looking for is right in front of you…

Stephen is on a very personal mission to find his father as per the wishes in their mother’s will. But he has no idea where to start, not that he’s going to tell anyone that… When Noelle, native New Yorker, daughter of a detective and desperate for a distraction from the novel she’s been struggling to write, offers to help, it feels like the perfect solution.

Except the last time she spoke to Stephen he thought they’d be seeing the New Year in together and instead she stood him up and sold him out! Stephen’s big enough and been around the block enough times to understand that all is fair in love and war, isn’t he? But when Stephen accepts her offer and they begin their search across the city, it soon becomes clear that the weather isn’t the only thing that’s heating up.

A heartwarming summer romance perfect for fans of Heidi Swain, Sarah Morgan, and Holly Martin.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The entire ride I watched all the couples, wondering what their deal was. How did they get together? Why did it work? I mean, I understood the basics of human biology– it was something like eighty percent the right pheromones to suit their genetic code, but I couldn’t write a satisfying finale to my series with the heroine choosing her partner because she’d noticed he smelt right. Could I?

 

People had told me it would be hot in New York in the summer, but dictators had nothing on this kind of oppression. I’d considered taking up religion just so I could thank God for the air conditioning in the office and my apartment when I first arrived.

 

I had no desire to be another notch on his bedpost– the thing was probably whittled to matchsticks by now.

 

Before nine is too early to call on people. It’s practically an act of aggression.

 

I am not a convenient set of lady-bits for you to make the most of while you’re in the vicinity. There will be no shenanigans.

 

Yesterday’s dead-end had only seemed to make her more stubborn though and I couldn’t help feeling that I’d started something with her that I didn’t have complete control over anymore. Like I’d programmed a diminutive redheaded terminator and couldn’t cancel the action now.

 

‘Unclench your muscles.’ ‘Are you checking out my physique again?’ He flicked a quick glance at me, a hint of that devilish smile playing over his lips. ‘Only because you look like you’ve got rigor mortis.’

 

My Review:

 

I enjoyed this story as much as I did the endearing couple featured, and I’m assuming I would also enjoy the earlier book in this series as I relished Emma Jackson’s cleverly amusing and engaging writing style. Her characters were smart yet flawed and gave good banter. Her writing was smooth, well-paced, easy to fall into, and kept me pleasantly entertained while dealing with unusual yet relevant issues and concerns.

About the Author

Author of the Best Selling A MISTLETOE MIRACLE, published in 2019 by Orion Dash, Emma has been a devoted bookworm and secret-story-scribbler since she was 6 years old. When she’s not running around after her two daughters and trying to complete her current work-in-progress, Emma loves to read, bake, catch up on binge-watching TV programs with her partner and plan lots of craft projects that will inevitably end up unfinished. Her next romantic comedy, SUMMER IN THE CITY, is due for release in June 2020.

Emma also writes historical and speculative romantic fiction as Emma S Jackson. THE DEVIL’S BRIDE will be published by DarkStroke in February 2020.

Social Media Links –

Twitter: @ESJackson1

Instagram: @emma_s_jackson

Facebook @EmmaJacksonAuthor

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Book Review: First Shot by John Ryder  

First Shot
by John Ryder  

 

Amazon / B&N 

 

When girls go missing here, no one says a word…

Twenty-four-year-old Lila has disappeared without a trace. It’s the kind of case that ex-military loner Grant Fletcher would normally be happy to take on—he will always seek justice if someone has the money to pay him. But this one he’s doing for free. This one’s personal.

Because Fletcher owes his life to Lila’s father. And Fletcher knows that returning Lila safe and sound is the only thing that matters to his wheelchair-bound friend.

She last called her father from a small town in rural Georgia. Arriving there, Fletcher’s feet barely touch the ground before he finds trouble. He also discovers that his friend’s daughter wasn’t the first girl to go missing there. Not the first by far.

Then the last person to have seen Lila before she disappeared is murdered. As an outsider, Fletcher becomes the local deputy’s only suspect, leaving him no choice but to go on the run. Because Fletcher knows someone’s abducting girls in this town. And he also knows he’s the only person who can find them…

Fans of high-octane action and unforgettable heroes like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne and David Baldacci’s Amos Decker will love First Shot.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Tall Boy eyed him as if he was a circus freak from bygone days. ‘You’s talkin’ with the tongue outta your shoe… C’mon, let’s get outta here ’fore we catch arthritis from this old coot.’

 

Daversville was a town that time hadn’t ever known about, let alone forgot. The clothes worn by the townspeople weren’t so much outdated fashion as never having been fashionable. Each item was clean and well presented, but they were clearly worn as an alternative to nudity rather than make the wearer feel or look good.

 

Fellers wasn’t a bar for tourists, it was a spit and sawdust kind of place with genuine sawdust and extra spit.

 

With the pace of an arthritic sloth, Fletcher took a few gentle steps forward.

 

My Review:

 

I rarely read books of this genre but I would routinely add them to my routine if I could find a bevy of them as easy to fall into and difficult to let go of as First Shot proved to be. Mr. Ryder’s engaging writing was taut with tension, surprisingly emotive, and well packaged with glints of humor and refreshingly clear descriptive details where each perfectly honed word packed a powerful punch while also being smartly strung together in clever arrangements that pulled sharp visuals and defined step-by-step planning and eventful fight scenes that ran like a movie reel behind my eyes. I definitely wanted to give the caustic and surly FBI agent an attitude adjusting whack to the back of her head, although the bad guys eventually did that for me.

I was already duly impressed before I noticed First Shot was the only book listed for this author – could it actually be his first?!? I have just made a new addition to my list of authors to watch for, as I now have a taste for an action hero named Grant Fletcher.  

About the Author

John Ryder is a former farmworker and joiner. He’s turned his hand to many skills to put food on the table and clothes on his back. A life-long bibliophile, he eventually summoned the courage to try writing himself, and his Grant Fletcher novels have drawn inspiration from authors such as Lee Child, Tom Cain, Zoe Sharp, and Matt Hilton. When it comes to future novels, he says he has more ideas than time to write them.

When not writing, John enjoys spending time with his son, reading and socializing with friends. A fanatic supporter of his local football team, he can often be found shouting encouragement to men much younger and fitter than he is.

 

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnRyderAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnRyder101

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Book Review: The Fallen Girls by Kathryn Casey

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The Fallen Girls
 by Kathryn Casey

 

Amazon /B&N / GP / Kobo / Apple

She didn’t notice the corn stalks shiver a few feet to her right. By the time she looked up, the man towered above her. In a single movement he wrapped one thick hand around her waist, the other he clamped over her mouth, muffling her screams. 

Detective Clara Jefferies has spent years running from her childhood in Alber, Utah. But when she hears that her baby sister Delilah has disappeared, she knows that the peaceful community will be shattered, her family vulnerable, and that she must face up to her past and go home.

Clara returns to find that her mother, Ardeth, has isolated her family by moving to the edge of town, in the shadow of the mountains. Ardeth refuses to talk to the police and won’t let Clara through the front door, believing she and her sister-wives can protect their own. But Clara knows better than anyone that her mother isn’t always capable of protecting her children.

When Clara finds out that two more girls have disappeared, all last seen around the cornfields near her family’s home, she realizes it’s not just Delilah who’s in danger. And then she gets a call that a body has been found…

Clara will have to dig deep into the town’s secrets if she’s going to find Delilah. But that will mean confronting the reason she left. And as she gets closer to Delilah, she might be putting her more at risk…

Gripping and spine-chilling, readers will love Detective Clara Jefferies, reading The Fallen Girls deep into the night. Fans of Kendra Elliot, Lisa Regan, and Melinda Leigh won’t stop turning the pages of this unforgettable new series from bestselling and award-winning author Kathryn Casey.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Guns don’t mix well with stupid. Guns and stupid are even more dangerous when paired with crazy drunk.

 

For the most part, I was in good shape, and I was too young for aches and pains. I considered the fine wrinkles webbing my eyes. One of my fellow detectives described them as laugh lines, but then noted that he’d never actually seen me crack a smile.

 

Mother methodically inspected me, looking at my face and hair, my clothes, and my dust-covered shoes. She examined me as if I were a specimen on a glass slide.

 

What this trip has taught me is that you can leave home, but you can’t ever truly leave it behind. No matter where you end up, where you started haunts you.

 

In the margins she’d drawn playful caricatures of our family. My tension eased enough that I chuckled at one of my mother. It bore a striking resemblance to the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz.

 

They looked as tense as I felt. Even my teeth were nervous.

My Review:

While perusing this craftily written tale, I was well aware that I over-identified with the protagonist of Clara. Although I did not grow up in a cult, my parents were weirdly and stridently religious. Even as a child I knew it was strange and deeply resented the vile coercion, bombastic oratory, and blatant hypocrisy. I rarely read books with a religious theme as I find most religious dogma and rhetoric deeply annoying and tiresome with the essence of most being that everything is a sin that will be severely punished and anyone who does not follow their faith is doomed to an eternity of teeth gnashing. I’d rather be an altruistic, kind, and nonjudgmental person; believe as I please, and be proactive by obtaining dental implants.

Ms. Casey’s writing was emotive and atmospheric yet easy to follow and her storylines were well-plotted, shrewdly paced, taut with tension, maddeningly intriguing, loathsomely realistic, and sneakily unpredictable. I remain deeply curious about the details of Clara’s personal escape eight years prior. The Mormon sect that Clara’s family adhered to is a prime example of the idiocy of the devout who blindly follow teachings that allow and condone child abuse. Deplorable cretins such as this cause me to grind my teeth in the here and now, making those planned dental implants a probable need.

About the Author

 

A novelist and award-winning journalist, Kathryn Casey is the author of eleven highly acclaimed true crime books and the creator of the Sarah Armstrong mystery series. Library Journal picked THE KILLING STORM as one of the best mysteries of 2010. Her latest true crime, IN PLAIN SIGHT, investigates the Kaufman County prosecutor murders, a case that made worldwide headlines. Casey has appeared on Oprah, 20/20, the Today Show, Good Morning America, the Biography Channel, Reelz, The Travel Network, Investigation Discovery, and many other venues. Ann Rule called Casey “one of the best in the true-crime genre.”
@KathrynCasey
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